The present invention relates to the technical field of a print system for outputting a print (photograph) on which an image recorded on a film or an image recorded by a digital camera is reproduced. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus capable of making an output image from the previous processing of an input image or an output image on a simultaneous print advantageously coincident with an output image obtained by reprocessing thereof or an output image on a reprint, in the print system.
At present, most of images recorded on photographic films such as negative and reversal films (which are hereinafter referred to as “films”) are printed onto light sensitive materials (photographic papers) by a technique generally called “direct exposure” in which the light-sensitive materials are exposed with the light projected from the films.
In contrast, printers that adopt digital exposure have recently been commercialized. In this “digital photoprinter”, the image recorded on a film is read photoelectrically and converted into digital signals, which are subjected to various kinds of image processing to produce image data for recording purposes, a light sensitive material is scanned and exposed with recording light modulated in accordance with the image data, thereby recording a (latent) image which is then developed to produce a (finished) print.
The digital photoprinter comprises basically a scanner (image reading apparatus) for allowing reading light to be incident on a film and reading light projected therefrom to thereby photoelectrically capture the image recorded on the film; an image processing apparatus for subjecting the image data read by the scanner or the image data sent from a digital camera or the like to predetermined processing, thereby obtaining image data for image recording, that is, setting exposure conditions; a printer (image recording apparatus) for recording a latent image by scanning and exposing a light-sensitive material with, for example, a light beam in accordance with the image data output from the image processing apparatus; and a processor (development apparatus) for subjecting the light-sensitive material having been exposed with the printer to development processing and for outputting (finished) prints on which the images are reproduced.
In the digital photoprinter, since images can be adjusted by image data processing using digitized image data, prints of high quality, which cannot be obtained by the conventional direct exposure, can be obtained by effectively executing the correction of dropouts and blocked-ups due to photography with rear light or an electronic flash, sharpening processing and the like.
Further, in the digital photoprinter, the images recorded by a digital camera and the like also can be output as prints.
Incidentally, as to images recorded on a film and image data recorded by a digital camera and output as prints, there are often made so-called reprints, on which images (frames) having been printed once are printed again and output, in response to the request of a customer for extra printing, not only in the digital photoprinter but also in other printers.
In this case, unless correction is particularly instructed, it is required that the image of a print output previously (ordinarily, a print which is output in simultaneous printing) is in agreement with the image reproduced on a reprint. However, the color and the density of the image of a reprint is often different from those of the image of a previous print because an operator makes a different judgement or operation, about which a complaint is often made from customers.